U.S. Rep. John Kline Speaks to South of the River Chambers of Commerce

U.S. Rep. John Kline (R-MN 2nd District) was in Lakeville on Wednesday morning to address a group of business owners, elected officials and community members as part of a joint South of the River Chambers of Commerce breakfast. Kline gave his take on a number of hot-button topics during an approximate hour-long presentation.

“In these challenging times, it is extremely critical to have members of Congress fight for American business and their employees,” said Darlene Miller, President and CEO of PERMAC Industries in Burnsville, in introducing Kline to the audience of about 150 at . “This year there are many battles. And Congressman Kline continues his support of key business issues.”

The fifth-term congressman is Chairman of the House Education and Workforce Committee and he focused his remarks on the main issues facing that committee, including the economy, job creation and education. Among the highlights:

Debt Ceiling

“We can’t talk about anything in Washington or America right now without talking about the 800-pound gorilla in the room,” said Kline. “That’s debt and all that surrounds it.”

Kline said that raising the debt ceiling limit was an “enormously unpopular thing to do” and defended the battle that was waged in Washington that had a global economy nervous.

“We were looking for every way to try to keep from raising the debt limit,” said Kline. “Many of us felt like this was an opportunity to start to change how Washington spends your money. That’s what we wanted to get at.”

Kline laid out the provisions of the measure that he says can help control runaway spending in the future and help reduce the deficit such as the debt limit being tied to approximately $917 billion in cuts, the formation of a “super committee” to find another $1.5 trillion in cuts, and an October vote on a balanced budget.

Kline pointed to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security as the main programs that need fixing. Those are the keys to turning the corner on Washington’s continued budget problems, said Kline. But he also warned that the discussion isn’t over.

“This debt ceiling battle will go on, and go on, and go on until we fix this problem,” said Kline. “If we don’t rewrite the laws to reform these entitlements, there’s nothing that stops the government from running out of money year after year after year.”

Jobs

Kline says government has to get out of the way in order for meaningful job creation to happen and help speed up the economic recovery. He pointed to a litany of government regulations he says are impeding the opportunity for job growth.

“What is happening right now with (President Barack Obama's) administration is what I and others call a blizzard of regulations,” said Kline.

He pointed to corporate giant Boeing’s bid to move their Dreamliner operations to South Carolina earlier this year as just one example of government putting the economy on hold. The company had planned on hiring 4,000 workers before acting National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) general counsel Lafe Solomon alleged in a complaint that Boeing’s move was in response to union demands at their Washington state facility.

“I think most Americans would find it astonishing that one guy (Solomon) can draw this conclusion and have an impact of such huge proportions,” he said.

Kline said that was just one example and said there could be a chart “pages and pages long of regulations that are pouring out of this administration that are making it impossible for Americans to get back to work. It has to stop.”

“Our (Republicans) idea of a job bill is something that gets government out of the way so you can create the jobs,” Kline told the chambers. “It’s the people in the chambers of commerce that are the ones that create jobs.”

Education

The hot topic in education is the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) measure passed in 2001. Kline says it is “universally recognized that it has to be fixed.”

“We have to do better,” said Kline regarding education in general. “The education gap between the United States and other countries is growing and it needs to narrow.”

Kline says government can do better to reform acts such as NCLB and others to give local schools the freedom and flexibility to manage better. He called NCLB an “extraordinary intrusion of Federal government into education.”

“We’re in pretty bad shape and it needs to be fixed,” said Kline. “But the fix probably isn’t a Washington fix. The fix is here. We have some great schools here.”

Kline predicted that NCLB as it is shaped today will soon be gone.

“That’s work under way,” he said. “It’s a big fight, but I’m glad to be in it.”